I would like to forget, I would like to remember. Political, historical and economical aspects meet in a remote forest clearing in Latvia. The film shows fragments of images from the Cold War time.

I clean a Soviet army propaganda art relief of debris, moss and weeds. The exposed concrete work depicts the history of the Soviet army from felt-capped warriors and cavalry to troops which operate space-age airplanes and missiles.

Oblivion refers to quotidian chores such as cleaning and organizing: I sweep, brush and wipe. It is not a solemn ritual such as an unveiling of a sculpture. The concrete relief is not a celebrated art work; it is a redundant and forgotten piece of imagery of a former superpower. The overgrown site where the relief is situated used to be full of activity, part of the arms race of the super powers. I want to bring forth the propagandist plaque in its cracked condition. What does it tell us? How do we look at ideological imagery of the past and how does it relate to the ideological imagery of today?

Unohdus / Oblivion

Still-kuva / Still image

Näkymä Kuntsin toisesta kerroksesta / View of the second floor of the Kuntsi Museum

Näkymä Kuntsin toisesta kerroksesta / View of the second floor of the Kuntsi Museum